The Lady Vols' 16 threes made in their win over South Florida wasn't the only time Tennessee entered its name into the record book in the first round of the 2025 Women's Basketball NCAA Tournament.

While that 3-point mark was the most deep balls in program history for an NCAA Tournament game, the 684,000 viewers who tuned in was the second most for a first round game played on a week day on record.

The result was a 5-seed Lady Vols 101-66 victory over the 12-seed Bulls in front of the massive TV audience and fans in person in Columbus, Ohio.

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The game aired on ESPN and was a part of a viewership increase across the platform for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. An average of 367k viewers per game was a 43% increase from the 2023 season.

This made it the second-most 'consumed' first round of the tournament ever recorded. It was ESPN's most-viewed first round since 2008, the year Tennessee won the national title behind Candace Parker's play and coached by Pat Summitt.

In the win over South Florida, the Lady Vols' offense was key. Tennessee shot 50% from the field and 43.2% on 3-pointers in the win.

Leading the way was Talaysia Cooper. She led the team with 20 points to go with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. This resulted in a +35 box +/-.

As a defense, the Lady Vols limited the Bulls to only 66 points off 39.1% shooting from the field and 35.3% on 3-pointers. This went along with 24 turnovers.

The following game saw Tennessee down 4-seed Ohio State on its own court. The Lady Vols won 82-67 behind another dominant Cooper performance. This time, she went for 19 points with eight rebounds, five assists and seven steals.

Next, Tennessee will head to Birmingham to play in the Sweet 16. The Lady Vols will meet 1-seed Texas on March 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on ABC.

The winner gets the winner between 2-seed TCU and 3-seed Notre Dame on March 31 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

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